The Millstone Times November 2021

A Pandemic Tea Party By Pam Teel Local resident, Gina Schneller, always liked to write. Whether it was poetry, creative writing, or short stories, she would always read her material to her family and friends for feedback. In the back of her mind, she had always wanted to publish a book, so she decided to take a chance on a self-publishing company and create her first children’s book. It’s title, A Pandemic Tea Party, centers around her characters, Julie and Billy. Despite the physical and emotional challenges that Julie faced, due to COVID-19, Julie finds comfort in her imagination. By using her own creativity, she is taken to a safe land where there is happiness and hope, but most of all, a mental break from the ongoing stress and isolation due to the pandemic.

A big kid at heart, Gina likes to do arts and crafts and use her imagination. She wrote this book as a way to teach children how to cope with their fears about the covid pandemic and how not to be afraid to talk about it with their parents. The book was written not just for children, but the whole family to hopefully provide comfort during a diffi- cult time. It invites you the reader to join, Julie, Lady, and Billy and all her new friends at an exciting tea party. Taking into account the amount of stress and anxiety today’s children must be going through during the pandemic; fear foremost, being isolated from their friends, being forced to wear masks, lockdowns, etc., this author wants to let the children know that this is a topic that you can talk about. It’s very important to express your fears and anxiety so that you don’t fall into a depression or become overly anxious at such a young age. The story is uplifting and follows Julie, how she has been impacted by covid, and how her normal routine had suddenly changed, and not for the better. No vacations, no in school learning, no hanging around with her friends, can make anyone’s life lonely and boring. During that time of isolation, Julie learned to use her imagination and delve into the land of make believe as a way to forget about covid for a while. Millstone resident, Lauren Castellano did the illustrations in the book. She is a freshman in high school and enjoys spending her free time drawing and painting. Art has always been forefront with Lauren, but during the pandemic, the love for art grew even more. She was grateful to have had this oppor- tunity to do the illustrations; viewing it with the hopes of enlightening the situation and easing the minds of individuals in a way that will reach them through her artwork. You can find, A Pandemic Tea Party on Amazon, at Barnes and Noble, Target, and ABEbooks. JUNCTION BARBER SHOP Fun Facts! Quote of the Day: "Yesterday's home runs don't win TODAY'S GAMES." - BABE RUTH Word of the Day: Circumlocution (noun): the use of an unnecessarily large number of words to express an idea This Month in History: Tuesday - Friday 10am to 6pm

December 1: In Montgomery, Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat in the front section of a bus. (1955) December 2: The toilet paper roll was patented (Patent #465,588) (1891) December 7: Martin Van Buren becomes the eighth Pres- ident of the United States, and the first president to be born in this country. December 8: John Lennon, singer, guitarist, songwriter, and poet for the Beatles, was assassinated in New York City by Mark David Chapman in 1980. December 15: Gone With the Wind premiered in where else but Atlanta, Georgia. (1939) December 16: The famous World War II "Battle of the Bulge" began. (1944)

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